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Life and Love in Four Dimensions

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The other day, I had a really funny dream. I dreamed that the FBI kept calling me, stopping by my house, wanting to know how I found out about the aliens stashed away at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and what more did I know. Being in a dream, I was a bit slow on the uptake, but I finally figured out that they were referring to my book Hangar 18: Legacy.

“It’s fiction!” I told them. “I don’t know about any aliens on the base. I made this stuff up!” I had to be very insistent about the fact that, while I’m a software developer like the heroine in the book, the projects I work on are nowhere near as interesting as those she deals with, and even if there were aliens on the base, I’d never know. It took several more pestering phone calls, but the FBI people finally got the message. Later, they sent me cookies to apologize for bothering me. 😀 I woke up smiling.

My ROW80 goals are a sort-of smile, sort of not, as they were rather hit-and-miss. Actually, they were mostly miss, as the only one I hit was the writing, and that wasn’t until about one AM this morning. I count it as yesterday, and therefore being made, because I didn’t go to bed until after I hit the wordcount goal. Here’s the nitty-gritty:

4000 words on new ms – Yes!

4 workouts – partial – got three in.

One chapter in estate planning book – no

Spend 15 minutes decluttering – no

The novel’s now over 12,000 words, so I’m making good progress toward my overall ROW goal of 20k on the book. I’m going to keep the weekly goals the same for this week. I already got 300 words written today, so that’s a good start. I might just jump in on the estate planning book and the decluttering tomorrow, since it’s a holiday. We’ll see how that goes – plans have a tendency to change. My daughter decided to come home for the long weekend (I think mostly for the AC, LOL, which her dorm doesn’t have). I’ve enjoyed (and spent a lot of time) talking to her, catching up, and vicariously reliving the college experience. That has impacted my goals a little, but is well worth it.

What about you – I know a lot of authors get story ideas from dreams, but have you ever dreamed about a book you’ve already written (or read, if you’re not a writer)? Whether or not you’re doing ROW80, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have had this week? Please share – I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

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They sent you cookies. I’m LMAO, that’s too much. 🙂 What a dream. I love when I dream about my characters. I’ve fixed many plot holes this way. I’m glad you got some good time with your daughter. Here’s to a rocking week.

Funny thing, while I was researching Mexican drug lords, drugs, DEA stuff, and border crossings for my book The Nun and the Narc I kept thinking if the feds confiscated my computer I’d look guilty of something. Didn’t dream about getting raided though. However I did dream 90 percent of a time travel novel not yet published. That is so cool when it happens.

My kids laugh at my outrageous dreams. Most of the time, I don’t dream about my books or characters, but often, if I go to sleep puzzling over a plot problem, I wake up with a solution. Stephen King refers to his “boys in the basement” going to work while he does other things. That’s been my experience, too, except I might call them my “girls in the attic.”

I especially liked the cookies part of your dream. If only! Have a great writing week.

That’s funny. I have never dreamed about one of my books in progress or otherwise, but I love that yours ended happily with cookies. In mine, I’d probably go to jail or get tortured for information or something. Although I don’t write mysteries or thrillers so I’m not sure why anyone would want to torture me over a contemporary romance set in Northern Arizona. Maybe it would be my knowledge about the flora and fauna in that particular region. Cuz, that’s highly classified and sought after information.

I’m one of those people who rarely remembers her dreams. I’m a bit envious of those with such an active dream life! The FBI, aliens & cookies? I’ve got nothing to compete with that.

Good job on the novel progress! Living in Texas, I CANNOT IMAGINE any dorm here not having air conditioning. Maybe there is one, but I don’t know where. Good thing you can use your A/C as a carrot to get your daughter to come home for a visit. 🙂

Kathleen, I wish I would dream plot solutions! This one was funny, at least.

Patricia, you never know what could be hiding out in the desert out there!

Julie, I almost never remember my dreams either – that’s what was especially great about this one! And yeah, the dorms at my daughter’s school – where I went, too! – are pretty miserable, but only for about a month. Most universities in OH do have AC, though!

Funny thing for me is that I’ve always dreamed vividly–and it wasn’t until I read an interview with Stephenie Meyer that I decided that would be where I’d source my stories. At this point, I have 2 novels, a short story, and a novelette published based entirely on dreams I’ve had. (Well… and the background research to make them “real”.) Only my sci-fi romance was based on speculating about news from the LHC project in Cern. 😀